Financing selection for the 25th week of 2023, with Sequoia leading the investment in Taiko, a zkRollup Layer2 project that raised $10 million.

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Metaverse/GameFi.

In the field of Metaverse/GameFi, a total of 3 financings were completed with a total amount of 25.5 million US dollars, accounting for 12.43% of the total financing amount last week.

Argus Labs

On June 7th, Web3 game studio Argus Labs completed a $10 million seed round of financing, led by Haun Ventures, with participation from Robot Ventures, Anagram, Dispersion Capital, Web3 development company Alchemy, and former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan.

Argus is a game developer and publisher made up of a group of hackers and designers, dedicated to pursuing the next great paradigm shift in the video game industry. Argus also announced the launch of World Engine, a blockchain game software development kit that allows builders to create their own Web3 game ecosystem.

HyperPlay

On June 8th, Web3 gaming launchpad and multi-chain gaming aggregator store HyperPlay completed a $12 million financing round, led by Griffin Gaming Partners and Bitkraft Ventures. Participating investors include ConsenSys, the parent company of MetaMask, Ethereal Ventures, Delphi, Game7, Mirana Ventures, and Monoceros Ventures.

HyperPlay was co-founded by MetaMask and Game7 DAO in November 2022, with the aim of achieving interoperability for all Web3 games through wallets. Currently, its game store has launched 33 games.

HyperPlay is a web3 native game launcher that allows players to bring their wallets, NFTs, tokens, and achievements into every game. HyperPlay makes wallet interaction in games seamless and intuitive. HyperPlay aims to disrupt developer's de-platforming and web2's monopolistic fees by providing a web3 native game marketplace and aggregating the Epic Store and GOG, giving developers the maximum freedom to choose the marketplace that suits them best.

Other financing in the Metaverse/GameFi field includes:

On June 8th, the encrypted gaming application TradingLeagues completed a $3.5 million Pre-A round of financing, with Leo Capital, Jeejeebhoy family office, and KPB family trust fund under the Redwood India and Westbridge Capital founder KP Balaraj family office participating.

TradingLeagues helps users understand the stock and cryptocurrency markets through games, and cultivates users' skills in building investment portfolios and trading. TradingLeagues plans to complete a $10 million Series A financing in the next few months.

NFT/Digital Fashion

In the NFT/digital fashion field, a total of 3 financings were completed with a total amount of 3.8 million US dollars, accounting for 1.85% of the total financing amount last week.

Spinamp

On June 5th, Web3 music platform Spinamp completed a $1.2 million financing round, led by PTC Crypto with participation from Coop Records, Archetype, NOISE, Fire Eyes DAO, 1kx, and individual investors including Bramanathan (Ideo), DegenDavinci (music NFT collector), Adam Levy (Mint Podcast), David Greenstein (Sound.xyz), Kyle Dhillon (Arpeggi), Mike Perry (Heds), Ramtin Khoee (Heds), Cameron Greer (Heds), and Christina Beltramini (Lens). Spinamp aims to create an aggregator that combines tracks produced across all platforms into one player and marketplace. Currently, it has aggregated and indexed music NFTs from Sound, Catalog, Nina, Zora, NOIZD, Lens, Arpeggi, Decent, OpenSea Collections, Songcamp, HedsDAO, Manifold, and over 30 other smaller platforms and artists.

Dew Drops

On June 6th, NFT storage platform Dew Drops announced the completion of a $1.5 million seed round of financing, led by Dream Ventures, with participation from VaynerFund, Polygon Technology Fund, Ruttenberg Gordon Investments, and Slow Ventures. The new funds will be used to expand the team and accelerate platform development.

Dew Drops is a digital collectibles company operating in the art and technology fields. Dew Drops was founded by Jeremy Levitan and Martin Holzner, and provides curated daily digital collectibles to various collectors via text message. Dew Drops is committed to using innovative technology to bring the joy of creative expression to everyone, everywhere. Dew Drops aims to lower technological barriers and improve the efficiency of exploring and discovering NFT digital collectibles.

Other financing in the NFT/digital fashion industry includes:

On June 6th, Oxalus, a Vietnamese NFT social commerce platform development company, completed a $1.1 million seed round of financing. IDGCVB and Kyber Ventures led the investment, and the new funds will be used to accelerate Oxalus platform data development and expand the engineering team. Oxalus' NFT social commerce platform allows users to interact online, learn about market news, and buy and sell NFT collections. Users can also directly comment, like, follow, and share on the platform, express themselves through creative content, and manage their own NFT collections.

DeFi

In the DeFi field, a total of 1 financing transaction was completed with a total amount exceeding 1.3 million US dollars, accounting for 0.63% of the total financing amount last week.

nealthy

The digital asset index protocol nealthy has completed a $1.3 million Pre-Seed round of financing, with undisclosed investors. nealth creates diversified investment portfolios for investors by storing various digital assets in a chain vault and issuing index tokens.

Nealthy processes reserve proof on the Ethereum network, and all assets are stored in secure smart contracts to ensure the safety of user assets and investments. These features make Nealthy a unique solution for investors seeking a convenient and reliable investment tool. Nealthy aims to provide accessible and diversified digital asset exposure. With deep technology in layered investment portfolio management on cryptographic tokens, Nealthy is not just a planned asset. Combining transparency of funds, Nealthy offers ETF and index-like funds for digital asset investors.

Social/Creator Economy

There were a total of 1 funding in the social/creator economy sector, with a total amount exceeding 15 million US dollars, accounting for 7.31% of the total funding amount last week.

Lens Protocol

On June 8th, decentralized social protocol Lens Protocol completed a $15 million financing round, led by IDEO CoLab Ventures, with participation from Tencent Global, General Catalyst, Varian and Blockchain Capital, Flamingo DAO, DAOJones, Punk DAO, DAO5, Global Coin Research, as well as Uniswap CEO Hayden Adams, OpenSea co-founder Alex Atallah, Coinbase former CTO Balaji Srinivasan, Sandbox co-founder Sbastien Borget, and Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal.

It is reported that the new funds will be used to help expand the ecosystem of the protocol. So far, Lens Protocol's parent company Aave has raised a total of $49 million in financing.

Infrastructure

There were a total of 3 financing deals in the infrastructure sector, with a total amount of over 28.55 million US dollars, accounting for 13.92% of the total financing amount last week.

Taiko

On June 8th, Taiko, an Ethereum Layer2 network based on zkRollup, announced that it has completed a $10 million seed round of financing, but did not disclose its valuation. HongShan led the investment and completed a $12 million second seed round of financing in Q3 2022, with Generative Ventures as the lead investor and participation from IOSG Ventures, GSR Ventures, GGV Capital, POAP founder Patricio Worthalter, Anthony Sassano, and Tim Beiko, a member of the Ethereum Foundation.

Taiko is building an extended solution for the Ethereum blockchain - it is carefully designing a solution that is as close as possible in design and ideology to Ethereum. It describes its product as a Type 1 zero-knowledge Ethereum virtual machine.

Informal Systems

On June 7th, Informal Systems, the Cosmos ecosystem development team, completed a $5.3 million financing round with CCMC Global as the lead investor and Nascent, Maven11, Celestia, and EigenLayer as co-investors. This funding will support the company's work as the core development team of the Cosmos ecosystem. Informal Systems is the core developer of the Cosmos network, and we focus on sovereignty, interoperability, collaborative technology to enhance a more sustainable community.

Other financing in the infrastructure sector includes:

On June 7th, decentralized data broker Oamo announced the completion of a $1.25 million Pre-Seed round of financing, led by White Star Capital. Oamo is about to launch its Beta version, and the waiting list is now open. Oamo helps internet users profit from their data value by anonymously sharing data in fields such as DeFi, NFTs, games, wallets, and more. In addition, Oamo also provides user data analysis services for enterprises, and its partners currently include Index Coop, Lighthouse World, Ledn, and Saddle Finance.

On June 6th, Marathon Digital Holdings (NASDAQ stock code: MARA), a cryptocurrency mining company, announced that it has signed a securities purchase agreement to sell 15,000 shares of Series A redeemable convertible preferred stock in a private placement. It is expected that the total gross revenue from this issuance will reach approximately $14.25 million, after deducting the fees of the placement agent and other expected issuance expenses. The issuance is expected to be completed around June 8th, 2023.

Marathon Digital Holdings (NASDAQ stock code: MARA) is one of the Bitcoin miners in North America. The company converts energy into economic value by processing Bitcoin transactions, creating newly minted Bitcoins ("BTC"), and maintaining the latest and secure distributed ledger of Bitcoin.

Thunes

On June 6th, cross-border payment network Thunes announced the completion of a $60 million Series C financing round, led by Marshall Wace with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners and Southeast Asian private equity firm 01Fintech. The funds will be used to expand into new markets and improve the efficiency of its payment network.

Since 2021, Thunes' mobile wallet network coverage has doubled to reach 3 billion accounts, connecting to 4 billion bank accounts worldwide and processing transactions worth approximately $50 billion, of which 90% are instant transactions.

Other financing in the field of digital asset management/payment includes:

On June 6th, Meanwhile, a life insurance provider priced in Bitcoin, announced the completion of a $19 million financing in two seed rounds. The first round was jointly led by Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and Lachy Groom, former head of Stripe issuing. The second round was led by Gradient Ventures.

On June 6th, WaveBL, a blockchain electronic bill provider, completed a $26 million financing round with NewRoad Capital Partners leading the investment and ZIM, Marius Nacht, Contour Venture Partners, Frank Sica, Techstars Central LLC, and Reefknot Investments participating. WaveBL is led by former technical leaders and experts of the Israeli Defense Forces and has become the leading digital platform for the electronic transmission of trade documents. WaveBL's proprietary blockchain technology enables instant, secure, and authenticated transmission of unique electronic trade documents, ensuring compliance with universal processes and regulations.

Other financing

There were 2 other financing rounds with a total amount of 11.75 million US dollars, accounting for 5.73% of the total financing amount last week. These include:

On June 2nd, Web3 artificial intelligence (AI) platform Alive announced the launch of a $12 million institutional round of financing. It is reported that the company completed a $5 million seed round of financing on March 16th, led by well-known venture capital firm Myer Capital, with participation from Space Capital, Main Sequence Ventures, and Viola Ventures. According to official sources, Alive is currently actively promoting institutional financing and has reached strategic cooperation with several Web3 investment institutions and listed companies in Hong Kong to further accelerate the company's development.

On June 7th, Nori, a blockchain application for carbon neutrality, announced the completion of a new round of funding of $6.25 million, led by M13, Toyota Ventures, Placeholder, and Cargill. In addition, Nori has hired Trudeau as the new CEO. Paul Gambill, the CEO and co-founder of Nori for the past five years, will continue to serve on the board and take on a new role as Chief Product Officer at the company.

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